MediaTek has long been rumored to be working on an octa-core SoC, and the first leaked images of a tablet motherboard suggests that the Taiwanese semiconductor designer is close to unveiling it.

The MT6592 will not be the “first” octa-core ARM SoC, as Samsung’s Exynos 5410 gets that distinction. However, MediaTek claims that its octa-core chip will facilitate the running of all eight cores at once, unlike the Exynos big.Little concept. The MT6592 features eight ARM v7 based Cortex A7 cores that can individually clock at 2 GHz. They will be based on a 28nm manufacturing process, and will likely be available to handset and tablet vendors starting November.

MediaTek mentioned that the MT6592 scored 30,000 on AnTuTu, which is very close to what Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 manages. However, the MediaTek MT6592 will be much more affordable, given that the MT6589 is already a favourite amongst handset vendors manufacturing devices in the budget segment. The quad-core MT6589 has been a mainstay in the budget market for over a year now, and the octa-core MT6592 will likely take over once it starts becoming available next year. Another feature on the MT6592 is the inclusion of 4G LTE, which will give MediaTek a significant advantage in emerging markets, where 4G networks are beginning to see the light of day.

The MT6592 will also feature ARM’s quad-core Mali series for rendering visuals, although it remains to be seen whether it is the faster 6xxx series or the last-gen 5xxx series.